Electrical – Replace a single wall swich (controls light and fan) with a decora dual switch

electricalswitchwiring

I have 3 wires coming into a single light switch box. One is from the breaker, one goes to the fan (includes light), and I believe the other wire goes to the next switch in the circuit. The single switch currently turns the fan and light. There are no other switches in this room that control fan and light.

The wiring looks like below. I'm trying to replace the single light switch and install a Decora dual switch so I can control fan and light separately with existing wiring. Is it possible? If not, can I add a new switch altogether (cutout the single gangbox and install a two gangbox) with the existing wires so I can have separate switches for fan and light? I'm trying to avoid running a new wire.

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Best Answer

You don't have enough wires for a double switch

You don't have enough wires in the wall for a double switch, unfortunately. You'd need a /3 cable (black, red, white, bare) for that, but you only have a /2 cable (black, white, bare), and all the wires in that cable are already spoken for.

Maestro to the rescue!

However, Lutron makes a solution for this problem in their Maestro product line; namely, a fan/light controller that uses powerline signaling to communicate with a canopy receiver module. You'll want to get a MA-LFQM or MA-LFQHW in the appropriate color (WH for white or LA for light almond, for instance), and install it according to the included instructions.